People like T. Kingfisher

Ursula Vernon (born May 28, 1977) is an American freelance writer, artist and illustrator. She has won numerous awards for her work in various mediums, including the Hugo Award for her graphic novel Digger, the Nebula Award for her short story "Jackalope Wives", and Mythopoeic Awards for adult and children's literature. Vernon's books for children include Hamster Princess and Dragonbreath. Under the name T. Kingfisher, she is also the author of books for older audiences. She writes short fiction under both names.

Ursula Vernon grew up in Oregon and Arizona. She studied anthropology at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where she first took art classes. She first became known for her webcomics and as a freelance artist, particularly for her works containing anthropomorphic animals. She then moved into writing and illustrating a number of children's books, her first being published in 2008, and then books for adults under the pseudonym T. Kingfisher. She decided to start using the pseudonym in order to avoid confusion amongst parents who were only familiar with her as a children's book author, and chose it because she loves kingfishers (and as an homage to Ursula K. LeGuin, who once joked that the initials "U.K." could stand for "Ulysses Kingfisher). Vernon has published short fiction under both names, and has won a number of awards for them including the Hugo Award and Nebula Award.